A CRASH EDUCATION PROGRAMME - the Madras Snowball.
Early in 1958 the government of the State of Madras, now called
Tamilnadu, yielded to the pressure of the electorate, demanding a
marked improvement in the standard of education in the primary schools,
and in particular calling for a chance for every child to make a start
with English before leaving the primary school. It was accordingly decided
to introduce the English language into the fifth year of the primary school
curriculum as soon as possible, and gradually to move the beginning back to
to the fourth year, and, in time, also to the third year. The Minister of
Education, Sri Subramaniam, consulted me about the educational desirability
and the feasibility of this. English had not previously been taught in the
primary schools because educational thought, as it had been formulated at
conferences of consultants from Europe a generation earlier,considered the
learning of a second language at that stage too intellectual and therefore
too demanding. At about that t - ime, or, indeed, a few years earlier I had
enjoyed learning French through play and orally at the age of seven or eight
only to be hideously bored by the process I was subjected to a year or so
later. My experience at that age, of course, escaped the attention of those
learned gentlemen. Perhaps if there had been a lady amongst them, and I
think there wasn't, the verdict might have been different. I'm sure that
the lady who taught me French in the way I enjoyed would have been confused
to be consulted by them.
I told Sri Subramanaiam that provided the language was taught through
activity and play, the earlier a start was made with it the better. I remembered a class of four-year-olds I had taught a lesson to a few years earlier
on a five-day visit to Karachi. I used the various red or bleck marks on the
foreheads of the giris as a starting point, and we had a real romp. But I
said the teachers needed to be trained to do this. Traditional language
teaching wajs so bound up with the book, and reading, writing and translation,
that children who could barely read and write in their own language, would
find the struggle of reading and writing in a second language, especially
one that is written in a different script, too much for them. I t - herefore
advised him not to attempt to introduce English into the primary schools
unless he could somehow train the teachers for the 1 h k.
He asked me to give some thought to this, and after some reflection
I proposed that I should take advantage of my next home leave in England,
(2)
which would be due in about three months, to enquire about, and if possible
study, similar attempts elsewhere in the world. Thls meant that I was asking
for a period of about six months to consider the possibilities and make
plans for a scheme of training. I was lucky enough to meet a young man in
England who had just made a study of a campaign to improve the teaching of
English in the schools of Sieden, as a piece of work for a doctorate in
education. There i great use had been made of the radio, but he advised me
strongly against this, as it had the effect of reducing the status of the
teacher to that of a machine-minder, and the authority and the source of
üiagguage lay with the machine and the distant makers of the programmes,
who could never gauge accurately the needs or the capabilities of a large
number of distant learners. As I had originally thought that the answer
lay with the radio, or that it could at least be given a supporting role,
I had asked for enquiries to be made during my absence in Europe abdut
what support could be given by All-India Radio to a possible schemb. The
answer I found when I got back was, that, there would be too much political
criticism if they gave any bet e; , es thr2y were cnmmitted to giving support
for the promotion of Hindi. Th -ls decided the matter.
I proce8ed to work out plans for a scheme that would call for a high
degree of personal involvement and co-operation. From work I had done for
several years in Turkey, travelling from school to school, advising and
trying to stimulate the teachers, I knew from what a number of them said,
and at first I found this so little flattering that I tried not to believe
it, that what helped them most was not the technical and pedagogical advice I gave them so much as the interest I showed in their work .iand living
conditions, and the frieFship I brought to them in their often isolated
existences. I knew that teachers very seldom read or made use of printed
materials sent out by education authorities, and even demonstrations of
new techniques had very little effect if the relationship with the demonstrator was too impersonal. It is possible to overcome this barrier with practice,
but not if one has a superior attitude, or seeins to be a prolonged arm of
authority. Sympathy is called for. On my first arrival in Madras to take
up permanent work there I travelled round the state, visiting the training
colleges for teachers and speaking to the teachers in the urban centres.
When I returned and reported to the Director of Public Instruction, I
said ther e was not-hing useful I could do, only multiplying the teachers'
salaries by three or four would help, doubling them would not be enough.
-
(•
(•
)
)
and said
said
thatthat
wouldwould
ruin theruin
state, the
so state, so IIdecided
Director
laughed and
The Director
laughed
decided
thatthat
inhelping
helping
the teachers
the teachers
to see to see value
my work
my
workwould
would
consist
consist in
valuein in
theirtheir
work, towork, to
t‚hemto to
be aw
be aw -- are
enjoyit and
enjoy
it to
and
helpto help t‚hem
areofof
their
their
status status as
as skilled
skilled
and welland well-
informed
informed
workers,
workers,
helping
helping to
toform
form
a healthy
a healthy
and and worthwhile
worthwhile
society.
society.
considerable
that that
neededneeded
to be to be solved
solvedbefore
before
a plan
a plan
were considerable
training
programme. They
programme.
effective
They could
could
be grouped
re re -- training
be grouped
couldbebe
made
could
made
for for an effective
The'lpbäbletts
The'lpbäbletts
The
problems were
numberes,time
time
money. The population
population
of Madras
and and
money.
of Madras
underthree
three
headings: numberes,
under
headings:
Stateat at
time was about
abouttwenty
twenty
five millions,
the number
number ofof
primary
State
thatthat
time was
five millions,
the
primary
uncertain
estimated
at twenty
at twenty
two thousand
two thousand
- the number
- the
was number was uncertain
schoolswas
schools
was estimated
majority
of them
of them
viere private,
viere and
private,
we foundand
laterwe found later that
thatthethe
becausethe
because
the majority
estimtwentynine
nine
thousand.
thousand.
A goodAdeal
good
depended
deal on
depended
this
on this estimnumber was
number
wasnearer
nearer twenty
one re-trained
re-trained
teacher
teacher
atebeing
ate
being
reliable
reliable
as thereas
needed
there
to be
needed to be at
atleast
least one
decidedthat
that
we had
we tohad to
in
ineach
each
school,
school,
to insure
to insure over
over -- all
allcoverage.
coverage.
We We decided
plan
planforfor
twenty
twenty
two thousand
two thousand
teachers plus
teachers
a percentage
plus for
a wastage,
percentage
and, for wastage, and,
as
as itit
turned
turned
out, forout,
a false
for
estimate.
a false
AsÜle
estimate.
next election
AsÜle
was due
next
in about
election was due in about
four
fouryears,
years,
the Minister
the Minister set
seta atime
time
limit limit of
ofthree
three
years
years
for thefor
completion
the completion
recogn4ed
by the
by voting
the voting
thegeneral
general
effects
effects
could could be recogn4ed
of
ofthe
the
scheme,
scheme,
so that
so that the
as the
the
budgetary
budgetary
system
system
of
of
public
public
in good
in good
time. time. Money was
wasa amajor
major
problem,
problem, as
the
thestate
state
made
made
no no provision
provision
foremergency
emergency
measures
measures
of
medeffleamiteeß for
medeffleamiteeß
of
nearly
brought
brought
a defeat
a defeat
Butthe
the
previous
previous
election
election
had
had nearly
this
thiskind
kind
and scope.
and scope. But
Minister's
ratherrather
reaction-reactionfor
forthethe
Congress
Congress Party,
Party, partly
partly
owing owing
to the Chief
to the Chief Minister's
proposals,
which
which
appeared
appeared
to be tootoälitist
be too älitist and
and designed
designed
ary'educational proposals,
ary'educational
Rajagopalachari,
the Chief
the Chief
property structure
structure
intact. intact. Rajagopalachari,
to
tokeep
keep
thethe
classclass
and and property
hadopenly
openly
taunted
taunted the
theassembled
assembled
staffstaff
of the of the
Minister,
Minister,
was was
a Brahmin
a Brahmin who had
began
mymy
period
period
of of work
workinin
Madras,
Madras,
by by
Saidapet
SaidapetTraining
Training
College,
College,
where where IIbegan
pickpockets
on Madras
station
could
tle pickpockets
on Madras
station could
calculate
bettercalculate better
saying
sayingthat
that
the litthe lit ‚‚tle
thepr/oducts
pr/oducts
our educational
efforts.
He much
thought that t-oo much
of ourof
educational
efforts. He thought
that t-oo
than the
than
schoolsandand
advocated
advocated
that that boys
boysshould
should
learn
learn
their their
valuehad
had
been
to schools
value
been
givengiven
to
and giris
giris
fromfrom
their mothers.
their mothers.
So
So money would
tr-ades
tr-ades
from
from
their their
fathers fathers and
wouldhave
have
tobebefound
found
the Congress
to
if theif
Congress
Party was Party was to
to preserve
preserve
its its
imageimage
as the as
friend
the
of friend of
shirt
andand
dhotidhoti
thetoiling
toiling
masses.
white Gandhi cap
cap and
anda white
a white
spun shirt
the
masses.
A white AGandhi
homehome -- spun
coupledwith
coupled
with
a sanctified
a sanctified expression
expression
platitudes -- cont/tary
cont/tary to
to
andand
piouspious
platitudes
expectation - were
expectation
- were
found not
found not to
to be enough
enoughto to
keepkeep
the population
the population
from
from
setting
setting
fire fire
to buses
toand
buses
tramsand
and trams
from derailing
and from
trains.derailing
Politics in India
trains. Politics in India
goingwewehadhad
to and
stop and
to stop
area aserious
serious
matter. Soon after
after
got
the scheme going
are
matter.
I gotIthe
scheme
(4)
wait while the financial people looked round for more money,
but with an
election at stake the mat - ter wasn't long in doubt. I was relieved to find
that zeal for improved educat.ion was not to be the driving force, as this
might have been an inadequate or erratic motor, but for destruction or to
win an election money can a]ways be found.
I had already made twn auemuts to find a way to break out of the
dead-lock in the sphere of Fndilsh language teaching. Conservative methods ,
rote learninq and a certaln amount of political prejudice surviving
tomuch
from the independence movement which had reached its goal only five years
earlier, called for a dynamic renewal of enthusiasm for a language which
was still spoken and valued for its practical use by a very large number
of people, especially in South India. And this was why a decision was made
to start with our help for the English language in South India. I was the
first English Language Officer in India because the Representative of the
British Council in India had previously been the Representative in Turkey,
particularly interwhere he had been familiar with my work. For me it
esting as my father had taught at a college ljravancore and my mother had
worked in an orphanage for unwanted children neer Tinnevelly in the South
of Madras State, before they married. The walls of our nursery were covered
with pictures of children my mother had looked after.
The first opportuntv to suggest something decisive came when a rep-
resentative of the Nuffiele Trust, visited Madras in 1953. I proposed that
a linguistic research centre shouid be set up to investigate the use of
language in industry, commerce, public administration and the cultural and
educational sphere. This seemed to me to be particularly vital in view of
the attainment of independence so recently. I thought we needed to be clear
about the respective roles of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kanada and English
in the life of the Madras State and its neighbours in Kerala, Mysore and
Adhra Pradesh. I wished alsn
include Hindi in the proposed survey, which
I hoped would be launched under the auspices of the centre, but I was told
that the Hindi experts would not accept any co operative plans that might
-
show that any other language needed to he furthered. They were particuarly
sensitive just then because the names of the stations in Hindi an the railway had been painted over 1 -7, hick not long before; Opposition to the introduction of Hindi as an
language was strong and apparently growing.
The representative of the Nuffield Trust was enthusiastic about my
idea, but when he got to Delhi he was told that such a centre in the South
of India could be regarded as a too open challenge to the spread of Hindi
in the areas where it was regarded as a foreign and unfamiliar language.
Instead, an institute for thn improyement of the teaching of English was
opened in Allahabad, in North India. This was not in accordance with my
plan, which I had deliberately given a multi-lingual character, not only
to allay suspicion of neo-colonial designs, but because I firmly believed
that the approach to the problems needed to be impartial and genuinely
linguistic, free from prejudice or political bias. I wanted allies and
fellow - workers, not subordinates who would jump to my commands. I later
had the opportunity to visit the centre in Allahabad, in 1957, and was
disappointed to see the lethargy of the teacher-trainees who were attending one of the three - month courses. I concluded
teae,
in the first place,
that the selection system must be faulty, as the people I saw were obviously unable to concentrate on lectures such as they were getting, not having
studied intensively since their training college days years before. Secondly,
the material they were getting was too preponderantly informative, and not
practically active and stimulating. I had shown in the three-week courses
I had been running all over South India, that the at--tention of the participants could be held for three weeks if one gave only one lecture a day,
in the morning when they were fresh, and the rest of the day was spent in
demonstrations and practical work in groups on pronunciation, the preparing
of visual aids and class - room drama, learning and singing of simple songs
for fluency practice, and the exploiting of the sand-table for teaching.
Thirdly, and this was confirmed in discussion with the staff of the centre,
a pgiod of three months was too Jong for relatively unmotivated people who
had been selected more or less at random. A method of selection should be
based an proved capability and motivation, and for this a course of three
weeks would be enough, and it would have as we had shown, its own intrinsic
value.
My colleague, L.A.Hil], who was the English Language Officer of the
te
considered that anything
British Council in Delhi, whv was a perfectionist;
less than a year was ne use at dU. I agreed with him that if we were aiming
at a near -.native - speakers standard of pronunciation, fluency and knowledge
he was probably right, but thirty teachers a year, or even a hundred,would
(6)
make no impression an the thousands ot teachers we needed to reach, if we
hoped to bring about a fundamental Imorovemh:nt in the methods of teaching
the language. Only a tiny ülite would be given the ability to feel superior
to the rest and perhaps pass an some of their knowledge and skill. Nothing
at all would be done to raise the the general standard of teaching in the )
muchlesnragodst heacingofElshteprimay
schools, which, after all,was the essential reason for undertaking a training programme at this particular time. I had to take the opportunity offered,
not think up anot-'her opportunity which might not be given, and almost certainly would not be adequately financed. Such a plan as Leslie Hill suggeted
would certainly do nothing to win the election which the Madras Government
was concerned about. More important than th
from rn-N point of view, except
that I needed to be sure that the governmer Aas in earnest, such a limited
P
language program,me would do nothing to raise the mor 'a le or the professional
standing of the mass of teachers, nor woulc it give active experience and
dealnstration of active, co - operative and piay methods of teaching to the
teachers who would be expected to teach English for the first time at the
primary level. It was not a,buestion of helping teachers to do better what
they already were accustomed to doing. A year's course for a tiny minority
with no reference to the new situation at the age level proposed would be
egivalent to putting a man's toot in plaster to heal a broken arm. Lesley
Hill didn't go into the question of how to carry out the requirements of
the Government of Madras, he just said that anything less than a year was
valueless and therefore what I was trying to do was a waste of time. I
later found that there was an almost savage reaction against the campaign
amongst some of my colleagues. I had no opportunity to go into the reasons
for this or to get comment from experienced psychologists, which would sugg-
est reasons for such emotional response, PW.'. I mention it here, in case
other athäl- experimenters are dismayed hy similar displays of rage. When
one expects co - operation and symuathy for rlsks taken one is easily disheartened by unexpected hostility.
About two years after my ur
uroposal for a linguistic institute
in Madras to the representative of thu Nuffeld Trust, I had another opportunity when a representative of the Ford Foundation came to Madras. He too
was impressed by my proposals , Out was soon cured of his enthusiasm in
)
( 7
7 )
(
Delhi; as a compromise between the claims of North and South an institute
was agreed to at Allahabad, and Jack Bruto?Lesley Hill's predecessor in
the post of English Language Officer of the British Council in Delhi,was
attached to it. I was relieved at this aspect of the matter, as he had done
a good deal to prejudice the successive Representatives of the British Council
in Delhi against my methods. I was the first in the field in India because
the then British High Commissioner in India, General Nye,considered that
the South was the area where there was virtually no prejudice against the
English language and the knowledge of it was very wide-spread..It was during
my first visit to India in 1951 for two months, when I ran three refresher
courses for teachers of a fortnight each, that I met General Nye and discussed the situation and I suggested what might be done. I had already been
travelling for two years in Turkey from school to school, ostens#bly giving
further advice and encouragement to those who had been trained by us in the
Gazi Teacher Training Instit.-ute in Ankara, but in fact watching and commenting on the teaching of all the teachers of English and some of the teachers
of French and German, when they invited me to do so. After another year of
this work I was told that someone had been appointed to be English Language
Officer in Delhi. I enquired about his experience and was told that he had
been British Council Representative in Montevideo and Director of the British
Institute there. I asked if he had had any experience in the training and
advising of teachers, and was told that apart from the general supervision
of teachers in the Institute he had not had muchpractice in this field but
he was undergoing a course at the Insitute of Education of London University
to fit him for the role. As some teachers I knew in Turkey had been through
the course and were critical of it, I was not much reassuredby this aspect
of the matter and said I didn't want anybody breathing down my neck, who
was decidedly less experienced than 1 was. They said he would merely be
'primus inter pares' and he would have no professional oversight over my
work, but as he had been a representative he would, of course, have to have
a higher rank. Soon after we both arrived in India in 1952, I heard from
one or two headmasters who had called on him in Delhi, that he told them
I was a madman. As they had got to know me and my m‘ethods on one or other
of the courses I had run the previous year,they thought this was a good
joke and told me about it when they got back to Madras.
e
be9r 0 .0
be9r
•
Jack and I were the best of friends provided we kept off the subject of language teaching.
t4-43
t4-43-11
(8)
So when the opportunity came to work out and apply a scheme for linguistic
renovation in Madras,that couldn't be taken away or watered down,I took it on
with great enthusiasm. One aspect of my plans met with criticism from my
superiors in Delhi. When I was i iCautious or naive enough to mention to the
Representative that I was planning the campaign as a comprehensive educational
effort and was making plans for a second wave to deal with Social Studies and
Tamil and a third wave to take care of Science and Mathematics, and had
already picked a promising young man to take care of Tamil, who would work
with us on the English wave to learn the methods, and was looking out for one
or two people to deal with Social Studies (History and Geography) he said
tartly:"You are paid to promote the English language and nothing else." My
reply, which I witheldiais it seemed likely to fall on stony ground, would
have been:"But I'm also being expected to promote good relations between
my people and this." But perhaps the chief reason why I left this unsaid
was that I would have despised myself for allowing my educational aims and
thinking to be influenced or perverted by such a consideration. As I was
obliged to leave India before the campagne for the English language in the
primary schools had got pest its opening stages, these further plans were
neuer realized. But I had frequently said that it seemed to me idle to wait
to teach a child how to write effedjively until he was learning his second
language, and the learning of History and Geography were admirable oppörtunities to practice the art or traft . Not only that, further reading and writing
.
over Historical and Geographical topics that had been first tackled in the
home language would fructify and develop the skill of expression in harmony
in both languages. I was dealing with people and their needs with language
as my tool, helping them to develop their personalities and their capabilities
through the process. I had often asked myself if I should feel guilty at
working for a basically propgganda organization ig the educational field.
Early in my career in the British Council, while I was working in Cyprus,
I had discussed the problem with my colleague Jock Jardine, and we agreed
that our individual consciences were the only reliable guide, for in London
they had't and couldn't have any 'dee of what we were doing, and could only
judge its effectiveness by its results and the general estimate of them. Of
course the diplomats occasionally took a glance in our direction and I had
personal friendships with a number of them, and I even got a modest medal,
presumably recommended by one of them, for reasons I neuer discovered, and
I even went to Buckingham Palace to have it pinned on my breast by the Queen,
chiefly to amuse my then nine-year-old son Stuart..Perhaps it was an echo
of the Snowball.
(9)
The plan I worked out had a simple basic structure, and in the main
it was kept to,with some modifications called for by the development in
practice. I decided to make the type of course For secondary school teachers,
which I had been experimenting with in South India, based on a pattern I had
conceived in T&WeY£ - was dictated by the availability of skilled and
experienced staff. I could usually reckon with three or four people, colleagues in the British Council, whose normal duties might be administrative
or in some school or university which they might be free from in the vacation
periods, native speakers as a rule, but obviously not available for long
periods. I had to be the main speaker on method , but people with experience
in drama, visual aids or singingwere either immediately available or could
quickly be shown a few tricks. My experience was a basic necessity but I had
to be able to take over any other of the functions in case of need.For
a prolonged campaign people who could be available for the whole period
would be needed and preferably ones with experience in one or other of the
subsidiary fields. I didn't like to regard myself as an expert, but 1 had
been thinking and experimenting for some time, and, especially in Turkey,
I had been able to watch a very large number of teachers at work, some of
them experienced , trained by Americans at Robert College, and plenty with
original ideas. I had sometimes been able to make suggestions which occurred
to me on the spur of the moment and which then became part of my habitual
practice. I used to spur myself on with the motto: "If your lessons are not
better than any others seen here you might as well not be here." Perhaps
this sounds a bit over - confident, but it made a good spur. To sum up I had
become a kind of compendium of good ideas, many of them provided by others
or tried out and perfected at my suggestion. Perhaps I could have been considered to have been working in a huge laboratory. One of the British Council Representatives in India said to me once: "You call yourself an expert,
but how do I know whether you are or not?" I answered: "First of all I don't
call myself an expert, but the British Council sometimes does so for its
own purposes. But the way to find out whether someone is an expert is to
watch him at work. If I see a blacksmith making horse-shoes I can see that
he is an expert, although I couldn't make one myself."
I made my unit a three-week course, which would provide relatively
experienced secondary school teacher;with ideas and skills which they could
pass on to the teacherswho were tostart teaching English in the emary schools.
We would run three courses followed by a break of a month to organize the
(10)
(10)
41./.
41./.
zne.
zne.courses
courses
for the
forteachers
the teachers
in the primary
in schools.
the primary
Out of each
schools.
course for
Out of each course for
fifty
teachers
we for
asked
for to
volunteers
tothirty.
the We
number
fifty
teachers
we asked
volunteers
the number of
didn't of thirty. We didn't
select
because
we want-ed
avoidanybody,
rejecting
select
because
we want-ed
to avoidto
rejecting
partly anybody,
because I trypartly because I try
to
tomake
makeacceptance
acceptance
and encouragement
and encouragement
the basisthe
of mybasis
work, but
of because
my work,
in but because in
this
thisinstance
instance
we were
we hoping,
were hoping,
as a bye-product
as a bye-product
to the introduction
toofthe
English
introduction of English
intothethe
into
primary
primary
schools,
schools,
to improveto
theimprove
teaching ofthe
those
teaching
secondaryof
school
those secondary school
teachers
teachers
thatthat
we were
we asking
were asking
to help usto
to do
help
it. Tousgive
toany
doofit.
themTo
thegive any of them the
impression
werejected
had rejected
be them
to discourage
impression
thatthat
we had
them wouldthem
be to would
discourage
needlessly. them needlessly.
Of coutrse
coutrse
we propaganda
did propaganda
for the of
experience
of they
passing
Of
we did
for the experience
passing on what
had on what they had
learnt
learnt
to others
to others
and in so
and
doing
in becoming
so doingmore
becoming
proficientmore
and experienced
proficient and experienced
themselves
themselves
in their
in their
own work
own
at the
work
higher
at level.
the Ifhigher
the number
level.
of volunteers
If the number of volunteers
didn't
didn't
reach
reach
the number
the number
of thirty we
of we
thirty
tried towe
persuade
we tried
one ortotwopersuade
of the
one or two of the
letoto
volunteer.
volunteer.
The thirThe
ty teachers
thir ty
wereteachers
then divided
were then divided
more promising
promising
more
peö peö'' le
intosixsix
groups
each onbasis,
a territorial
basis, so that they could
into
groups
of five of
eachfive
on a territorial
so that they could
undertake
training
of the
primary
teachers
undertake
thethe
training
of the primary
school
teachersschool
in a town
or country in a town or country
district
the evenings
twice
a week
formonths,
a period
district
in thein
evenings
twice a week
for a period
of five
in a of five months, in a
schoolthat
that
easily
bebyreached
thisof way, after a period of
school
couldcould
easily be
reached
all. In this by
way,all.
after aInperiod
threemonths,
months,
a would
phase,
weeighteen
would groups
have of
eighteen
groups of five
three
whichwhich
I calledI acalled
phase, we
have
five
secondaryschool
school
teachers
work,
an learnt
what tothey
had learnt to groups
secondary
teachers
at work,at
passing
an passing
what they had
groups
tofifty
fifty
primary
school according
teachers,
according
to local needs. After
primary
school teachers,
to local
needs. After
ofthirty
thirty to
of
this
I toplanned
diylde
staff
this
firstfirst
phase phase
I planned
diylde ourtostaff
into twoour
teams
in twointo
aww two teams in two aww
centres
centres
andand
concentrate
concentrate
for a period
for ofa three
period
months
of three months
on organizing
organizing
and and
•• %e
%e
supporting
supporting
the the
courses
courses
for the primary
for the
school
primary
teachers
school
in ezngtteachers
area. Afterin ezngt- area. After
thenext
next
period
ofmonths
threethere
months
would
be double
the number of groups
the
period
of three
wouldthere
be double
the number
of groups
ofsecondary
secondary
school
teachers
ready
to training,
take on
the training,
namely36, or
of
school
teachers
ready to take
on the
namely36,
or
36=1,800
1,800
primary
After
this
second phase I proposed
50 XX36=
primary
school school
teachers.teachers.
After this second
phase
I proposed
dividing
the once
staff
once
starting
in at
two
dividing
the staff
more
and more
startingand
in two
new centres,
the new
samecentres, at the same
timeresuming
resuming
first
When were
all atfive
time
workwork
in thein
firstthe
centre.
Whencentre.
all five centres
work centres were at work
reckoned
we should
be250
tackling
secondary
school teachers every
IIreckoned
thatthat
we should
be tackling
secondary250
school
teachers every
month,oror
in phase
each ofphase
of three
would
month,
750750
in each
three months.
Thismonths.
would be aThis
potential
of be a potential of
90 new
newcourses
courses
for the
forteachers
the teachers
in the primary
in schools
the primary
at the end
schools
of each at the end of each
orbetween
between
4,000
4,000
and 4,500
and 4,500
new new teacher
teachertrainees
trainees
at
at
phase ofof
phase
three
three
months,
months, or
atthe
at
the
primary
primary
schoolschool
level every
level
threeevery
months;three
We could,
months;
therefore,
We expect
could, therefore, expect
tocater
to
cater
for about
for about
2,500 in2,500
the first in
twothe
phases
first
and thereafter
two phases
12,000
and
a thereafter 12,000 a
yearand
year
and
a target
a target
figure of
figure
27,500 of
in two
27,500
years and
in eight
two months.
years and
One more
eight months. One more
inthe
the three
threeyears
years
phaseofof
phase
fourfour
months
months
would bring
wouldthebring
total upthe
to 32,000
total up to 32,000 in
thathad
that
had
been
been
named
named
as a limit
as abylimit
the Minister
by the
of Education.
Minister of Education.
The next task was tocalculate the cost of the enterprise, and this I
was asked to do. Slightly unnerved I started to do this, firstly I am no
mathematician, and secondly I had never attempted to cost anything of this
size and scope. I got the rates paid to teachers for attending courses from
the education office and the amount that could be regarded as reasonable to
compensate the teachers for missing the opportunity to earn money in the
evenings by giving private lessons. I then had to calculate the cost of
hiring premises for the residential courses. I thought I was preparing a
rough preliminary estimate, which the financial people would refine later,
but I was told at the end of the campaign that no other estimate was ever
made, and that it had been remarkably accurate. I was shocked at the amount
but when it was all over I calculated that for what it achieved in giving
the teachers new skills and interests in their work and in raising their
morale, it had been extremely cheap. I next had to look for premises, and
was lucky enough to find two large houses opposite one another, no longer
occupied by the families that owned them, and with plenty of grass round
them and shady trees. I was asked to collect the brass taps for the bathrooms personally, as I supposed that I would be expected not to steal them.
The houses were an the outskirts of Madras an the road south, near the airport of Meenambakkam.
I had for some time been scouting round for suitable staff. On a visit
to Rishi Valley School run by Theosophists under the aegis of Krishnamurti,
I was lucky enough to find two people of remarkable character, David Horsburgh,
nephew of the first woman cabinet minister in Great Britain, and Mahommed
Sirdar, who had taught for years at the well-known Public School at Deera
Doon, but had decided that he couldn't justify to himself working in an
6lite establishment, so he joined the more modest country boarding school at
Rishi Valley. Both of them showed immediate interest in my project, though
Sirdar was a bit suspicious of signs he thought he saw of my wishing to
force the teachers into a mould. David practised the sinile life, wore no
shoes and cultivated a patch of ground with vegetables and ground-nuts and
maintained a staff of five servants who earned their keep by helping him
make furniture for sale. He had a wife and three children, the eldest a
girl by his wife Doreen's first marriage and two boys about eight or nine,
who could shin up a palm tree quicker than anyone I've seen. Educationally
his contribution to my scheme of things was most notably his use of woodwork as intellectual training, the solving of problems, etc. I have never
worked with anyone who so completely understood and reciprocated my way of
working.
(12)
(12)
The next
next
person
person
who who
was suggested
was suggested
to me was
tothemeheadmaster
was the of
headmaster
a Salvation of a Salvation
Army School,
School,
a young
a young
man ofman
remarkable
of remarkable
integrity and
integrity
intelligence.and
He too
intelligence. He too
fitted
fitted
into into
the scheine
the scheine
of things that
of was
things
beginning
thatto was
emerge.
beginning
We needed
to emerge. We needed
one
one more
moreperson
person
withwith
a native
a speaker's
native speaker's
grasp of English
grasp
and we
of found
English
a and we found a
professor
of English
at ata Tir
collge
at Tir to
lvelli
(Tinnevelly to me in my
professor
of English
at a collge
lvelli (Tinnevelly
me in my
chilhood,
as was
this
wasmy
where
motherTheworked).
The in
four
chilhood,
as this
where
mothermyworked).
four of us slept
our of us slept in our
sleeping
bags
the coconut
grove
beside
sleeping
bags
in theincoconut
grove beside
his house
andhis
werehouse
told theand
next were told the next
morningthat
that
we were
lucky
notbeen
to brained
have been
brained
byinfalling coconuts in
morning
we were
lucky not
to have
by falling
coconuts
the
thenight.
night.
We were
We were
now five,
nowwhich
five,
waswhich
the number
was I the
had envisaged
number Iforhad
the envisaged for the
senior
senior
staff
staff
of the of
project.
the We
project.
travelled round
We travelled
looking at various
roundtypes
looking at various types
of
ofteaching,
teaching,
including
including
the military
the
Staff
military
College atStaff
Wellington,
College
in the at Wellington, in the
Nilgiri
Nilgiri
Hills,Hills,
and some
and
exnerimental
some exnerimental
teaching through
teaching
drama that
through
I had drama that I had
initiated.
initiated.
At theAt
staffthe
College
staff
theirCollege
use of a huge
their
sand
use
table
ofand
a group
huge sand table and group
work
workwere
wereof great
of great
interestinterest
and value to
and
us. value
As I hadto
been
us.working
As I inhad
South
been working in South
Indiaforfor
India
moremore
than six
than
years
six
I had
years
established
I hadlittle
established
pockets of experimentlittle pockets of experimentationandand
ation
skillskill
here and
here
there,and
andthere,
some people
and had
some
picked
people
up a few
hadideas
picked
I
up a few ideas I
had put
had
puton on
paper,
paper,
and started
and started
to try themto
outtry
without
them
my hearing
out without
about them
my hearing about them
till
till
afterwards.
afterwards.
My
My plan
planwas
was
to have
to have
a senior
a senior
group of five
group
and aofjunior,
fiveor and
learning
a junior, or learning
groupofof
group
ten.ten.
After the
After
first phase
the first
one of the
phase
five would
one of
be detached
the fiveto would be detached to
inaugurate
supervise
the secondary
courses
the
primary school teachers
inaugurate
andand
supervise
the secondary
courses for the
primaryfor
school
teachers
helpedforfor
helped
the month
the month
before the
before
next residential
the nextcourses
residential
began by courses
the rest of began by the rest of
us.Two
us.
Twoof of
the junior
the junior
staff would
staff
be detached
would tobehelp
detached
him. Two to
of the
help
five him. Two of the five
and four
and
four
of the
of ten
the
would
tenthen
would
be detached
then beto detached
start the newto
wave
start
and ten
the new wave and ten
new learners
learners
would
would
be selected
be selected
to be trained
to for
bethe
trained
third wave.
forI would
the third wave. I would
thensupervise
supervise
the operation,
whole operation,
flitting
one centre to another,
then
the whole
flitting from one
centre tofrom
another,
whereverI was
I was
needed.
Butto Ileave
hadthetocampaign
leave the
wherever
needed.
But I had
at thecampaign
end of the at the end of the
first
phase
and never
saw the
thedevelopment,Just
development,Just
asthought
I hadmythought my way from
from
first
phase
and never
saw
as I had
problemto to
problem
problem
problem
in the in the preparatory
preparatory
stages,
stages,
I had hoped
I hadI would
hoped I would be able
able
tofeel
to
feel
my way
my way
through
through
the problems
the problems
and opportunities
and opportunities
of the development.
of the development.
ItItwas
was
as as
though
though
a painter
a painter
had prepared
hada prepared
sketch for his
a masterpiece
sketch forandhis masterpiece and
had begun
had
begunto to
lay on
laytheon
basic
thecolours,
basicand
colours,
is called away
and for
isancalled
interviewaway for an interview
withthethe
with
KGBKGB
or the
orGESTAPO
the GESTAPO
and the
and
picture
theispicture
completedis
by his
completed
widow or by his widow or
hisassistants,
assistants,
who
an incomplete
idea
of what
his
who had
an had
incomplete
idea of what he
intended,
or ofhe
howintended, or of how
farhehe
himself
be influenced
by the
development
far
letslets
himself
be influenced
by the development
of the
pattern. One of the pattern. One
departure
the planned
pattern
was the
extension
departure
fromfrom
the planned
pattern was
the extension
of the
first phase of the first phase
tofive
five
months
instead
of Ithe
three I had
conceived.
to
months
instead
of the three
had conceived.
We also
had to stop We also had to stop
forsome
some
weeks
start,
for the
government
for
weeks
soonsoon
after after
the start,the
for the
government
to look
around for to look around for
more money.
more
money.The
The
onlyonly significant
significant
resultresult
of this was
ofthat
this
a deputation
was that
of a deputation of
(13)
stone-workers from the nearby quarry called to ask why we had stopped, as
their children were teaching them in the evenings what they had learnt in
our demonstration classes in the morning. This was better than a report by
a visiting inspector, as it was evidence that a local need was being effectively met and that what was being transmitted was dynamic and gave the learners
the need to react positively to the skill they were acquiring. It was their
possession to do what they wanted with and not the property of the teacher.
After this I could afford to laugh at what critics might say, who doubted
the efficacy of my methods.
But this was still in the future when I wa s planning and preparing
our work. In selecting the ten people who were to help and learn how to
carry on the active methods I was developing with my team of five, I was
lucky enough to find a trained psychologist, who had learnt and applied
testing methods with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, which
we had not very long recovered from. We got t-he Education Department to
select forty teachers with a good knowledge of English and called them together for a wek-end testing programme. The procedure was for me to interview each of the candidates and estimate their suitability from the point
of view of command of the language, personality and degree of interest in
the aims of our programme. Then the psychologist would apply his testing
procedure. I was particularly interested in how far my judgment would agree
with or differ from his. We found that we agreed on all the candidates except
one, whom I thought we should reject, but he said we ought to accept because
of his exceptional intelligence. I thought that this did't outweigh his
other demerits, but I allowed myself to be convinced that I might be wrong.
In the event I regretted this as he caused us a lot of trouble with his
complaints and bad temper. Of course I wanted a critical attitude but not
blank lack of sympathy withour aims and methods. We had a quarter of an
hour's session every morning to discuss progress and any lack of it, and
we listened patiently to the wildest fantasies and subjected them to the
scrutiny of serious discussion in the group, with the invariable result
that they were dismissed as interesting or not, but not immediately practicable.
Now we had the staff and the premises we needed we were ready to start.
David Horsburgh and Sirdar Moved down to Madras. David moved with his five
servants into a primitive little Indian style house. One of his servants,
a young boy had only one duty, to wake him at five o'clock and make tee
(14)
for David to play his Indian drums. He had studied Sanscrit at the School
of African and Oriental Studies of London Universits -y and had started to
do a doctorate course of study an the relationship between the rhythms of
Sanscrit poetry and the classical rhythms of the drums . His affection had
passed from the Sanscrit to the drums, and he would often sit for hours
at a stretch tapping away at his drums in a corner of a room where otherwise conversation ruled. Sirdar moved into one of the houses we had taken
for the campaign. He was always available in the evenings and at the weekends, his English was perfect and he read aloud to the participants in the
courses,got them reading Shakespeare with t4elle and helped them with their
difficulties, including personal ones caused by unaccustomed distance from
their families and friends. David and I couldn't do much of this, we had
our families to concern ourselves with and I was trying for the third time
to shorten a book I had written three years before. Fortunately an English
woman who wanted to stay an in India as her money was running out came to
live in our house and re-typed the drastically shortened manuscript, on
the look-out for repetitions and unclear passages. She was the ideal person
for this, as she had written a book herself an the 1956 revolt in Hungary
shortly before. My then wife tried persistently to persuade me not to write
the book, saying it was a waste of time, no one would read it and it would
bring me no credit in our London headquarters. In this she was very nearly
right, but the head of the English Language Unit read it and said it should
be regarded as the embodiment of the British Council's language policy. On
the same arguments she tried to stop my getting involved in the campaign
I was trying to launch. Instead I should devote my energy to writing sycophantic
letters to London. In this too she may have been right, but I was not interested
in this kind of success and stuck to my scheme. My office responsibilities
I tried to deal with in the earl/norning orkate afternoon. I was still
pretty young, just turning fifty, and had plenty of energy. One thing was
certain,I couldn't cope with a lot of paper, so we dealt with everything by
word of mouth, decided everything at our eleven o'clock meeting and relied
on everyone's memory. Material for use in the secondary courses for the
primary school teachers of course had to be put on paper and duplicated.
This was done by David, and I had synopses of my lectures ready for those
who listened to them in our primary courses. They corresponded roughly with
the chaptersin my book, which appeared, however, after I had left India, in
1961. That it eventually reached India is evidenced by a friend of mine's
1111
(15)
coming across two shop-soiled copies in Higginbotham's, the largest bookshop in Madras,fifteen or twenty years later. Apart from a fortnight's visit
in 1968 to attend a Tamil language conference, I have not been back to Madras
since and I only had the opportunity to see one example of the follow up work
-
from the Madras Snowball. The impression I had was that the activity had
degenerated to an empty ritual. But, of course, one brief, isolated example
was not evidence enough to conclude that the Spirit had Bone out of my cherished brain child. A friend and coileague who worked on the organization
-
that was set up in Bangalore to carry on the work of English language teacher training , making use of the staff and policy of the Madras Snowball,
said that it was the PEOPLE that impressed him. David Horsburgh left, about
-
1970, to start a village school and prove that village children were as •
gt
capable/developing intellectually and culturally as any middle-class children
from the towns , and eventually had three schools, all flourishing and supported financially by.the text books he wrote and educational advisory work he
-
did in some states in the north of the sub continent. Unfortunately he died,
-
aged only sixty one about five years ago. Sam Dorairaj, who had worked with
me for several years, as opportunity offered, but joined the Snowball after
I left India, also died much too early. He was a dedicated and highly intelligent man.
Another memorable person I collected during my preliminary search for
staff was Bashkiran. I noticed him at the college where he was working as
a lecturer and was impressed by his intelligente and the enthusiasm he showed
for the plans I was working out. I asked him if he would like to join us.
He said he would, but I would have to ask the Principal of his college to
release him. I did this and received the answer, that he could think of no
•
surer way to wreck my scheure than to employ this young man. I took him on
and didn't regret it. He developed a wonderful enthusiasm and aptitude for
teaching little groups of children in the compound of our training establishment after school hours during the opening phase of the campaign and later,
as I heard, became an extremely dedicated and experienced trainer of teachers.
He also has died long before what nne would have thought to be an appropiate
time before reaching the age of slxty.
Shor-tly before we were ready to start the campaign I heard rumours
that the Director of Public Instruction, the successor to the man who had
asked for me to come to India and had supported my early years, was entertaining critical and perhaps even hosti]e opinions about our project. So I
went to
(16)
see him, said I hoped to have his advice and support , and outlined our plans.
I asked him to come and inaugurate our first session and give the assembled
teachers the benefit of his advice. I understood that it was almost axiomatic
that anything initiated or sponsored by the Ministry od Education would be
viewed with Argus eyes by the people in the Department perhaps rightly, as
the Ministry made many of its decisions with political considerations in
mind, while the Department liked to consider that educational considerations
came first. Sri Sundaravidevelu, the Director,was particularly sensitive on
this score and concerned about his own prestige. Tact and plausibility were
called for in the present instance, for there were many ways in which mistrust
could be given concrete expression, reaching even to actual sabotage. But from
this inauguration on we had the full support of Sri Sundaravidevelu
and his
Department and a full-time man was appointed as our representative in the Department
As far as I can now remember, this was Sheikh Mowla, but thirty years can play
tricks with the memory.I ask him to forgive me if I have given him the wrong
assignment.At least I have not forgotten him.
The pattern of the courses, which I had worked out by triel and error
all over South India, was as follows.We started at nine o'clock with ten minutes of
classical music. A criticism was made that all Western music was strange to
Indians and therefore they would react unfavourably to it, but I found, in
pr actice that they enjoyed it and it helped create a calm and receptive
-
atmosphere. An important advantage was that it gave late-comers the opportunity
to creep in without being noticed, but it had another advantage that
I hadn't
reckoned with: after a short time there were no late-comers, because they
enjoyed the music and didn't want to miss it. I then gave a lecture for fifty
or sixty minutes, followed by a demonstration lesson with a class of beginners.
I arranged for them to come from a school not far away, and after the first
course I asked for a new lot for the second course, because I wanted to
show what could be achieved in three weeks with absolute beginners. But the
first class was very disappointed at not being allowed to continue, so I said
they could come in the afternoons, and we divided them into small groups for the
Vtainees to practice on, and this was where Bashkiran developed his skill.
At eleven we made a break and spent a duarter of an hour or twenty
minutes discussing the day's events and programme and collecting
impressions
of success or failure, criticisms, etc. We then broke up into groups in which
the junior staff acted as group leaders and they had the opportunity to
explain what might not have been understood and to find out how far the
methods and ideas had found acceptance. I and the other members of the senior
team went round from group to group to support them. In the afternoon we did
(17)
(17)
practice, braking
halfanan
hour's
pronunciation practice,
half
hour's
pronunciation
braking
for another
up up
into into
groupsgroups
for another
Atsome
somepoint,
point, and
and I Iforget
forget
now where,
we
now where,
we
halfhour,
hour,
to complete
half
to complete
the hour.the hour. At
sang simple
simple
Englis4h
folktosongs,
promote
In spite of their strangesang
Englis4h
folk songs,
promote to
fluency.
In spitefluency.
of their strangenesstoto
South
Indian
ears,
willquickly.
and learnt
them quickly. At
ness
South
Indian
ears, they
sangthey
with a sang
will andwith
learntathem
At
later
stage,
when
wea made
a short
to makeknown
the tocampaign
known to the
a later
stage,
when we
made
short film
to makefilm
the campaign
the
general
generalpublic
public
and also
andtoalso
prepare
toteachers,who
prepare teachers,who
were to attend courses,for
were to attend courses,for
them,
them,soso
thatthat
they would
they know
would
what
know
to expect,
what we
to found
expect,
that we
wewould
found
have
that we would have
to
topay
pay
more
more
money
money
for background
for background
music than
music
we could
than
afford,
we could
we got the
afford, we got the
teachers
teachers
on on
the course
the course
that wasthat
running
wasto sing
running
sea Shanties
to sing
as background
sea Shanties as background
music,
music,and
and
nobody
nobody
seemed
seemed
to findto
it unsuitable
find it orunsuitable
inadequate. The
or original
inadequate. The original
planwas
wasto make
to make
fivewhich
films,
whichwould
we hoped
plan
five films,
we hoped
serve towould
supportserve
the cam-to support the campaignin in
its stages,
laterwhen
stages,
when the
had
been somewhat diluted,
paign
its later
the personneli*
hadpersonneli*
been somewhat
diluted,
besidesmaking
making
the electorate
aware
what
was
beingofdone
besides
the electorate
aware of what
wasof
being
done
on behalf
the on behalf of the
governmentforfor
One Iof
the rules
I adopted
government
their their
welfare.welfare.
One of the rules
adopted
in working
out the in working out the
scheme was
wasthat
that
therethere
must be
must
something
be something
in it for everyone,
in itforfor
the everyone,
teachers
for the teachers
taking
taking
part,
part,
to get to
a new
getenthusiasm
a new enthusiasm
for their work for
and increase
their work
their Prestige
and increase their Prestige
and
and sense
senseof of
purpose,
purpose,
for Sri Sundaravidevelu
for Sri Sundaravidevelu
to feel that he was
to having
feel that
a
he was having a
significant
significant
role inrole
something
in something
new, for my new,
fellow-workers,
for my who
fellow-workers,
were getting
who were getting
new experience
experience
and and
enjoying
enjoying
a ripening
a process,
ripening
andprocess,
for myself who
andwas
forhoping
myself who was hoping
tolearn
to
learn
a great
a great
deal in deal
the process,
in the
breaking
process,
new ground
breaking
that might
new make
ground
newthat might make new
advances
advancesin in
education
education
possible
possible
and a better
and
understanding
a better understanding
of how to generate of how to generate
new social
social
awareness
awareness
and co-operative
and co-operative
processes. processes.
The rewards orThe
satisfaction
rewards or satisfaction
hadbeen
been
hoping
on behalf
my own
behalf
removal at an early
IIhad
hoping
for onfor
my own
vanished
withvanished
my removalwith
at anmy
early
stage,
stage,
butbut
I believe
I believe
that everyone
thatwho
everyone
took partwho
in it and
took
completed
part in
theit and completed the
process
processemerged
emerged
a riper
a riper
and perhaps
and perhaps
even a better
even
person.
a better
This would
person.
explainThis would explain
why the
thecolleague
colleague
who joined
who joined
the groupthe
at a late
group
stage
atsaid
a late
that it was
stage
the said that it was the
peoplethat
that
impressed
himThe
most.
The conceived
films were
as a means of strengpeople
impressed
him most.
films were
as aconceived
means of strengthening
sense
of corporate
and the
consequently
thening
thethe
sense
of corporate
achievmentachievment
and consequently
consciousnessthe consciousness
ofhaving
having
taken
in something
decidedly
worthwhile.
of
taken
part inpart
something
decidedly worthwhile.
I hoped
that the nec-I hoped that the necessity
to work
together
groupsthat
that would
essity
to work
together
in small in small groups
cut
across
would cut
across
caste caste
divisionsdivisions
would
wouldhelp
help
to to ease
ease the
the
procesareakind
downdivisions,
caste that
divisions, that was anyway
procesareakind
down caste
anyway
taking
taking
place,
place,
but unevenly
but unevenly and
and too
too
slowly.
slowly.
As I left
Asafter
I left
we hadafter we had made only
only
one
one film,
film,
no other
no other
films were
films
made.were
I suppose
made.theIplan
suppose
was forgotten.
the plan was forgotten.
latter
part
The latter
part of
the of the afternoons
afternoons was spent
spent
learning
learning
to make
touse
make
of use of
class-room
drama,
preparing
visual
aids,
including
the use of the sand-table
class-room
drama,
preparing
visual aids,
including
the use
of the sand-table
and puppe.try,
puppe.try,
asaswell
asofthe
use of the
blackboard
and
as well
the use
the blackboard
for drawing
and forfor drawing and for
effective
effective
display.
display.
AlthoughAlthough
they
they were
were not
notlikely
likely
be generally
to be to
generally
available, available,
we gave
gaveopportunities
opportunities
to maketousemake
of films
use
andofdiapositives
films and
for teaching.
diapositives for teaching.
We
We showed
showed how
howtoto
make
make
puppets
puppets
out of out
home-made
of home-made
papier machb
papier
or clay.
machb or clay.
(18)
(18)
ItItmay
may
seem
seem
at first
at sight
first
confusing
sight that
confusing
we called the
that
courses
we called
that we the courses that we
ranforfor
ran
the the
secondary
secondary
school teachers
school primary
teachers
courses,
primary
and those
courses,
for primary
and those for primary
schoolteachers
school
teachers
secondary
secondary
courses,courses,
but what webut
ourselves
what did
we was
ourselves
obviouslydid was obviously
primary
primary
andand
whatwhat
was done
was by
done
those
bywethose
trainedwe
wastrained
equally obviously
was equally
secondary.
obviously secondary.
The schools
schools
for the
forfirst
the
years
first
of education
years in
ofIndia
education
were called
inElementary
India were called Elementary
Schools,for
Schools,for
the next
the stage
nextwere
stage
called
were
Highcalled
Schools or
High
sometimes
Schools
Senior
or Schools
sometimes Senior Schools
orjust
or
just
suchsuch
and such
and school.
such In
school.
talking about
In talking
them outside
about
Indiathem
I haveoutside
found
India I have found
ititconvenient
convenient
to speak
to of
speak
Primary
ofand
Primary
Secondary
andSchools.
Secondary
As we Schools.
worked our way
As we worked our way
throughthethe
through
first first
phase ofphase
three primary
of three
courses,
primary
and then
courses,
added twoand
more,
then added two more,
beforewewe
stopped
to launch
into the
secondary
before
stopped
to launch
ourselvesourselves
into the secondary
phasewe
began to phasewe began to
prArethethe
materials
for the courses.
secondary
courses.
As David
prAre
materials
for the secondary
As David
Horsburgh
was to Horsburgh was to
leavethethe
senior
group
tooftake
charge courses,
of the with
secondary courses, with
leave
senior
group cf
five tocf
takefive
charge
the secondary
thehelp
the
help
of two
of out
twoof the
outgroup
of the
of tengroup
trainees,
ofheten
began
trainees,
to withdrawhefrom
began to withdraw from
thework
the
work
of the
of primary
the primary
courses and
courses
work out
and
material
work for
out
the material
secondary courses.
for the secondary courses.
The six
six
teams
teams
of five
ofwere
five
to work
wereindependently,
to work independently,
but needed help and
butadvice.
needed help and advice.
The principle
principle
I had Iworked
had worked
on in devising
on in
thisdevising
part of the programme
this partwas
of that
the programme was that
notmuch
not
muchcould
could
be expected
be expected
of isolated
of individuals
isolatedshowing
individuals
methods showing
they had methods they had
onlyrecently
only
recently
come come
to know
toand
know
understand,
and understand,
but groups of but
five,each
groups
with aof five,each with a
different
different
responsibility,
responsibility,
one talking about
one talking
and demonstrating
about and
method,
demonstrating
another
method, another
concentrating
concentrating
an grammar
an grammar
and another
and another
an pronunciation,
an pronunciation,
while the other two
while the other two
demonstrated
demonstrated
thethe
use ofuse
visual
of aids
visual
or drama,
aidsbutoralways
drama,
taking
but
on whatever
always taking on whatever
they feltfelt
they
most most
gifted to
gifted
offer, we
tocould
offer,
expectwea group
coulddynamic
expectthat
a would
group dynamic that would
standupup
stand
to five
to or
five
six months'
or sixwork
months'
two evenings
work atwo
week.
evenings
This pattern
a week.
had
This pattern had
been adopted
been
adopted
because
because
it would
it be
would
impossible
be impossible
to take away to
suchtake
a large
away
number
such a large number
ofteachers
of
teachers
fromfrom
their schools.
their Itschools.
would disorganize
It would
the whole
disorganize
school system
the whole school system
fA,
fA,
and increase
and
increase
the cost
the ofcost
the campaign
of the astronomically.
campaign astronomically.
twould have the advanttwould have the advant-
My plan
age ofofhelping
age
helping
the tutors
the totutors
developto
theirdevelop
skills andtheir
their thinking
skills
gradually
and their thinking gradually
withplenty
with
plenty
of time
oftotime
discuss
totheir
discuss
experience
their
amongst
experience
themselves
amongst
and withthemselves and with
thedirector
the
director
of theof
secondary
the secondary
courses andcourses
his two assistants.
and his Responsibility
two assistants. Responsibility
and co-operation
co-operation
the key-notes
no onetowas
obliged
to feel that he
and
were were
the key-notes
and no one and
was obliged
feel that
he
exposedandand
unsupported.
be getting,experience
adjusted to
was exposed
unsupported.
People People
would bewould
getting,experience
adjusted to
top
their
experience
and capacity:
for the
the.five
and
the
ten,periods of up to three
their
experience
and capacity:
for the.five and
ten,periods
of up
to three
junior
yearsof of
intensive
experience
plentytoof
opportunity
years
intensive
experience
with plenty with
of opportunity
experiment
and to to experiment and to
discuss whatever
discuss
whatever
they tried
theyortried
encountered,
or encountered,
the people on our
theprimary
people
courses
on our primary courses
tocarry
to
carry
an practising
an practising
what theywhat
had learnt
theyforhad
another
learnt
five months
for another
without five months without
beingunder
under
excessive
pressure,
and the five-monthers
getting the opportunity
being
excessive
pressure,
and the five-monthers
getting the opportunity
toadjust
adjust
themselves
slowly
thebutnew
ways,
but never
in isolation, the most
to
themselves
slowly to
the newto
ways,
never
in isolation,
the most
gifted
of them
to inbe
on in the
higher echelons for further
gifted
of them
being being
availableavailable
to be taken on
thetaken
higher echelons
for further
experience.
experience.
(19)
Among the considerations that dictated this pattern, under the over-all
requirement to provide at least one adequately trained teacher for each of
28-30,000 schools within a period of three years, were, first, the obvious
fact that three-monthcourses for unprepared and unselected teachers - as I
hald observed in Allahabad - were ineffective ( a waste of time and money),
and , secondly, the belief that longer periods with the right kind of preparation under the right kind of stimulus to suitable people would, after all be
possible, and Leslie Hill's requirement be met. The success would be dependent on the process being an organic, co-operative growth and not just a filling up of empty receptacles.I was often astonished how the exigencies of the
moment or the circumstances forced on me a choice that proved to ine more
fruitful than what I in my routine sterility might have decidedlee joy of
making such a discoveOry was nearly always clouded by the realization that
I was too self-satisfied and obtuse to make such a leap of recognition alone.
An example was the provision of plenty of children in the afternoons asking
to be taught further, meeting the need for opportunities for all the teachers
to practise what they were learning.Jowards the end of the first phase we
had up to 150 children offering themselves to be practised on. I hadn!-t
provided for this very necessary element in the programme.
Group work was a case in point. I had read something about the possibilities and I had often divided a class in./to pairs or small groups to practise
dialogues, but hadn't felt the need to do much more, perhaps partly because
I seldom taught a,particular dass more than once or twice. But one day I
7
-
A,N1
noticed that with all "I
,
my exertions I was not able to hold the attention of the whole dass.
after all, an important ingredient of my self regarding instinct, that i
should be able to hold the attention of any dass however big, so I was
unwilling to admit defeat, but equally concerned not to see apathetic or
impatient faces in front of me. So I quickly divided the dass into four
groups, set one, in pairs to practise a dialogue out of their dass book,
another to read over a page they had recently been learning meenttäy, and I
taught the rest. After a quarter of an hour we changed the activities. This
was a quick emergency measure, but it opened my eyes to the possibilities,
a routine
and in the State of Mysore I often had classea of fifty or sixty to cope
with. It gradually -became. Group work came to be an important element in my
teaching. Role playing had begun to preoccupy me about the time of our preparation of our plans and I used it in judging the suitability of our junior
staff aspirants. But I din't have time to develop the possibilities as long
as I was in India. the train
attached to
my first two years in India
(20)
As I was the only member of the team who had had any experience of
lecturing and demonstrating to teachers and teacher-trainees, and was also
the only trained singer in the group, I inevitably had to do all the active
work at the beginning, and this included the administration. Some of these
chores, such as having to collect the brass taps for the bath-rooms of our
hostels from the Public Works Department, seemed at first rather outside
the scope of my responsibilities, but of course I felt honoured at being
trusted so far, and gladly went and picked them up. As far as I remember
I had to pick up the money to pay the teachers, but my memory may be playing
me false over this; though I remember that there was a complicated process
of drawing the money from one account and paying it into another, for reasons
that I have forgotten. When anyone suggested that I perhaps ought to make
way for an experienced administrator, I said that all that was needed was
someone to take care of these trivia, but they might well appoint someone
for this who also could learn to do the work we were doing. I had, after
all, done a highly demanding admimbtrative job in opening a representation
in Switzerland a few years before, but trying to produce a first class educational programmeAND
sort out cash and brass taps was destracting. I may
have been getting a bit harrassed and sharp-tempered towards the end of
the first phase, because a teacher shyly asked David Horsburgh if real
English gentlemen used the expression."Bloody hell!" and David tactfully
replied, recognizing the prohable source:"Mr Billows is an exception."
One complicating factor was, that although the job I was trying to
do was major, I was in a subordinate position. Not long before we had been
looking at houses to replace the one we were in, as the landlord wanted it
back. We took a visiting top notch man from the London office to look at
it, and I heard him murmur to Stanley Best, the Regional Director: "Too
representative for a low grade man." I regarded myself as lent to the Madras
Government, and didn't bother to do more than explain what I was doing to
Stanley Best or any of the potentates from Delhi or London who turned up.
I could have called Bacon's sentence to mied :"The fly sat an the axle-tree
of the chariot and said 'What a dust do I raise!'. But I was too emotionally
involved to think about what people might say who were not involved. Stanley
for some reason didn't like Sirdar, who was a magnificently exalted type of
älitist trying to turn himself inside out and be anti-älitist. Stanley,gladly
aware that he was my superior officer, no doubt, said Sirdar was no use and
must go. I said I regarded him as absolutely invaluable. Nobody could do
much at this stage except me, but he was always there, in the evenings and
(21)
at the week-ends, he read aloud to the teachers and got them reading plays;
he listened to their problems and troubles. "Well," said Stanley,"I'm running
this campaign, so I say he must go." I got up in a fury and stamped out of
the room, shouting over my shouider: "Then run it, damn it!" He hurried
after me and said we mustn't quarrel, or words to that effect, so we were
friends again. He had hardly ever been near the campaign, and had olayed no
part whatever in the running of it, but he had taken part in some of the
earlier courses I had run, so I was glad to discuss my plans with him. My
home leave was due in a few weeks, towards the end of April, so I was asking
myself, if I ought not to postpone it; although I was no longer doing everything, I was still the pivot of the whole enterprise, and gave the daily
lecture and most of the demonstration lessons. David was beginning to lead
the singing, but my voice was still a useful adjunct. My presence during
the phase of opening up two new centres was clearly essential. For one thing
I knew the people and the institutions in the new areas, as no one else in
our team did. The increase in size and scope would call for all my experience
and skill. The team I had built up looked to me for leadership and advice. We
understood one another and co-ordination could only take place within a zone
and an atmosphere of complete mutual understanding. After eight years' work
in India I had been told that I was due for a transfer, but how could I
justify leaving such a vital project so soon after the launching? And anyway,
all that
I was expecting to learn? What about its value as a pattern for others to
what about all the experience I hoped to get out of it? What about
adopt? I felt that everything I had ever learnt or done had been preparing
me for this opportunity.
I had recently collected an anthology of simple rhymes and folk songs,
for language teaching and still needed to teach more and more of them to
the teachers who would be able to make good use of them in school. I had
taken up singing when I was about 26 and learning to be an advertising copywriter with a publisher in London. I was fond of music, but had failed to
learn to play the piano at school. After two years of learning with Frederick
Keel, the Professor of singing at the Royal Academy in LondonI moved to Newcastle and learnt there with ait./oman teacher at the Conservatoire and once a
fortnight had lessons with Steuart Wilson, who came up from London and taught
a few pupils and coached me for the part of Guglielmo in Mozart's opera
'Cosi fan tutti'. In a year in Estonia I kept my singing going by practising
once a week with the pianist of the radio station where I read the news every
evening. In Turkey I took lessons with the Professor of singing at the Conservatoire in Ankara for two years and practised for two hours a day. It was sugg-
(22)
that I might make singing my career, but from having started to train my
voice as the most portable musical instrument I knew, I had seen the value
of a well-trained voice in the class--room and wanted to ensure that I was
offering the best possible performance irrespective of the status of the
listeners. In teaching demonstration lessons before an audience of four
or five'hundred one needed a good voice, especially if a roar of laughter
from the onlookers distracted the attention of the class.. Increasing range
and ability brought of course the urge to perform in public, but this was
an unimportant side-line. My interest in teaching and finding my way into
new realms of experience thereby predominated. I practised my drawing asa
means of exploiting the resources of the blackboard, so that I would not
disgrace myself, although I had been turned out of the drawing class at
the age of twelve, as fundamentally incapable of drawing anything.I have
developed my own style and set of tricks, but in this field David Horsburgh
was the expert, and he published a book on the use of the blackboard in
teaching. We soon found that we had people who were skilled in making models
and puppets and setting up puppet theatres, others concentrated on the possibilities of a heap of sand in the corner of the room, converted into a landscape with model buildings and trees.Before beginning work in India in 1952
I took a course of lessons withone of the leading teachers in London,a Czech
refugee lady who helped Peter Pears, the well-known tenor , to keep his voice
in trim, so I was able to sing on the radio in Madras, and also used singing
in a series of broadcasts for schools, which I did with a well-known headmaster
and boys from his school. This had the advantage that I was fairry well-known
to a wide audience before we started the campaign.
And now we were beginning to see the first secondary courses in the
evenings. I had not been prepared for the emotional response of the participants. One hardly came away with a dry eye. I supposed that they had been
impressed by our human approach, but I wanted to take time to make a study
of their reactions. It seemed to me that there was information to be gathered
there which could be of great value to many others.I seemed to be on the fringe
of new discoveries that made it imperative for me to delay my departure on
leave. But then came the bomb-shell. I was shown a copy of a report which
Leslie Hill had sent to London. I have seldom read a more damning report. I
was absolutely incompetent and if I were not=removed instantly the campaign
would collapse. I had nothing in my head but group work and role-playing. I.
was nothing but a hot-gospeller.,He had spent a morning with us a week or so
before, and had not shown much interest, but had not made any critical remarks.
My amazement was so great that words failed me. People who could believe this
(23)
(23)
would believe anything, so there was nothing to be said. Stanley Best, who
had helped me with a number of courses and had been an intimate friend and
colleague for several years, could haVe puthim right if he had chosen, but
he din't choose. After this it was difficult to talk to him at all. I was
told, perhaps I had a letter from Delhi or London, that if I could see the
man who had been chosen to succeed me I would certainly agree to his taking
my place. I found he had been an inspector of schools in Ghana with no special
responsibilities for English language teaching, but had been working for nine
months in this field in Pakistan. The Minister of Education was dumbfounded,
and offered to pay me whatever I was gettinq, to stay on and finish the plan.
He was not bound by the vagaries of the British Council. I hesitated for a
day or two: I had to considermy career in the British Council, though after
this blow it didn't look as if i had any prospects, but there was a pension
to. be thought of. There were moments, perhaps hours, when I thought that the
successful conclusion of such a campaign would open the way to all sorts of
possibilities. The opening of a representotion in Switzerland after the war
had been a resounding success, but after only two and a half years it was
closed down on the decision of a committee on which only one member knew
anything about the facts and was strongly against it. When the protests
started coming in, including a very strong protest from C.G.Jung, the famous
psychologist, who had watched our work with great interest, a decision was
made to re-open it, but in tne mean time the staff and premises and the baoks
of the library had been given up and I was an my way back to Turkey. If I
decided to stay on I would have toface the possibility of the Council's
withdrawing its support from the campaign, and then I would be in difficulties.
So I . agreed to go, partly influenced by the fact that one of my children
had an inflamed skin that required a cool climate for a few months. The
most surprising of all, however was still to come. Stanley Best told me I
was not to go to the campaign any more. I still had three weeks before I was
due to leave and every detail concerned me vitally, I w as still running it,
and no arrangements had been made for a take - over. I had no opportunity to
see my successor, or prepare him in any way for the problems he would face.
David told me later that the campaign very nearly did collapse. Smith,
my successor showed no signs of knowing what it was all about. He imposed a
regime of paper , the inormality and the comradeship virtually disappeared.
Only the fact that we had built up a competent and united team ensured the
survival of the campaign. Smith, they told me, playeAffective part in the
educational work of the campaign, but just pulled the administrative strings.
After two years I met him in London and he was effusive in his gratitude for
(24)
(24)
the opportunity
the
opportunity to
totake
take
paripari
in such
ina fascinating
such a fascinating enterprise.
enterprise.
Two Two years
years
later
later
he he
couldcould only
onlyspare
spare twenty
twentym m,, nutes
nutestu tu
describe
describe and
and discuss
discuss the
theprogress
progress
ofmy
of
mybrain-child.
brain-child. Concerned
Concernedtoto have
valueof of the
have the
the
educational
educational value
thecampaign
campaign
had arranged
adequately
adequately
assessed
assessed
I
I had
arrangedforfor
the British
the British Council
Council to
toappoint
appoint
an an
experienced educational
experienced
educational
psychologiC,
psychologiC,
to estimate
to the
estimate the achievment
achievmentof the
of the
he was getting
campaign,so so
I asked
getting
an with his
campaign,
I asked
Smith Smith how he
an with
hisinvestigations
investigations
that stupid
him into
into
a a
He answered:"Oh,
answered:"Oh,
we soon
we soon
stopped
stopped that
stupid
Idee
Idee
and turned
and turned him
hadlostlost
my power
surprised
at any educational
my power
to be to be surprised
at any
verygood
very
good
teacher."
teacher."
I thought
I thought IIhad
educational
restrained
myself
from using the
theword'imbecility'
word'imbecility'
myself
from using
insensibility
I have just restrained
insensibility
- I have-just
butthis
this remy capacity
capacity
but
first
reactlon
re- kindled
kindled my
reactlon
butfeel
feel
I record
must record
my first
but
I must
my
any time
time
at all
at all
two yars
yars
later
he couldn'tSpare
couldn'tSpare any
later
he
forastonishment.
astonishment.
Another two
for
Another
anJrnic1e
Jrnic1e
byinhim
educational journal
journal
by him
an in an educational
Some time
timelater
later
I saw an
I
tosee
seeme.me. Some
to
calling
es lonr:
lonr:
tos Itos
was I was there
thereI insisted
I insisted an calling
aboutthethe
about
Madras
Madras
Snowball
Snowball
- es
because
MadrasEnglish
English
language
language
Teeching
Teeching
Campaign,
Campaign, because
ititthethe
MELT
MELT
CAMPAIGN,
CAMPAIGN, Madras
meltcommunel,
communel,
religious
religious
and racist
and racist barriers
barriers
of of
I hoped
hoped it it
would
would
help to
help to melt
outofof
place
place
there.there.
His name,
His
of course,
name, of course, appeared
appeared
prejudice,
prejudice,
snowballs
snowballs
seemedseemed out
atthe
at
the
toptop
of theofarticle,
the but
article,
the last words
but were
the last
'the campaign
words was
werestarted
'the campaign was started
by officers
by
officers
of theof
British
theCouncil'.
British Council'.
writeabout
about
the campaign
until
now, because
the campaign
until now,
because
to write
have not
not
feltfelt
able able to
I have
only
experienced
the opening
and when
I asked
to be allowed to go
IIonly
experienced
the opening
phase, andphase,
when I asked
to be allowed
to go
so that
that
i would
givea balanced
a balanced
account,
i would
be ablebeto able to give
account,
backand
andassess
assess
results, so
back
results,
IIwas
wastold
told
to stick
to tostick
what I was
to what
doing and
I was
not try
doing
to recapture
and not
the try
past.to recapture the past.
Inthe
In
the
mean
mean
time,time,
hoWever,
hoWever,
I have been
I have
told that
been
it istold
4ind ofthat
myth,it
but is 4ind of myth, but
no one
oneknows
knows
what
what
it was.
itIt was.
seemsIt
to me
seems
that perhaps
to me that
the thinking
perhaps
that the thinking that
wentinto
went
into
it and
ittheand
preparations
the preparations
we made are we
worth
made
recording
are worth
for the sake
recording for the sake
ofanyone
of
anyone
whowho
might
might
be in abeposition
in a toposition
dosomething
to similar.
dosomething
For this itsimilar. For this it
may be
bethat
that
the unforeseen
the unforeseen
difficulties
difficulties
may be more important
may be than
more
theimportant
fore
than the fore
seeableones,
seeable
ones,
so I have
so I recorded
have recorded
them too, Ithem
hope impartially
too, I hope
and without'
impartially and without'
Leslie
Wea met at a conference
HillHill
again.again.
We met at
rancour.
friends
conference
a few
rancour.
friends
withwith Leslie
a few
Cypriot
resaurant,
resaurant,
where he
where
spökehe
Greek
spöke Greek
yearsago
years
ago
andand
wentwent
to a near-by
to a near-by Cypriot
and I Ispoke
and
spoke
Turkish.
Turkish.
The onlyThe only reliable,
reliable,
if imprecise,estimate
if imprecise,estimate
of the
of the bampaign
bampaign
Horsburgh.
He He
saidsaid
that about
thattwenty
about twenty thousand
IIhave.
have.
hadhad
was was
from David
from David Horsburgh.
thousandteachteachimproved,
andand
eighteight
thousänd
thousänd
had
had been
ershad
ers
hadbeen
been
substantially
substantially improved,
been changed
changedoutout
has now
nowdied
died
andand
I have
I lost
have lost touch
ofallall
of
recognition.
recognition.
David David has
touchwith
with
the the members
ofthe
of
the
team,
team,
but I have
but Iasked
have
a few
asked
others
a who
fewhad
others
experience
who of
had
it toexperience
record
of it to record
es far
far
es possible
es possible an over-all
their
their
impressions,
impressions,
so es toso
give,
es to give, es
over-all
view.view.
I
I
hope what
hope
whatI haVe
I haVe
written
written
will be intergsting,
will be and
intergsting,
valuable to anyone
and valuable
who
to anyone who
similar.
GoodGood luck
ina aposition
position
to do something
to do something similar.
luckto to
whoever
whoever
tries. tries.
may be in
,